Thinking about my favorite books of the year, the ones that have stayed with me. A Fictional Inquiry by Daniele Del Giudice, translated from the Italian by Anne Milano Appel, is a deceptively simple book that holds unanswered questions. I loved it so much that I’m going to read it again now.

Through the front door today. The holiday gift card bump. Vaim by Jon Fosse, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls. And Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott.

Just heard Duke Ellington use a magnificent phrase in a 1974 BBC interview with Stanley Dance. Asked whether he regrets never having received a grant to sit at a university somewhere and compose in peace, he says he has no interest in such a stretch of “ornamental stagnation.”

Before long they saw in the distance the towers and flags of Dictionopolis sparkling in the sunshine, and in a few moments they reached the great wall and stood at the gateway to the city.

A literary universal solvent, or a novel that’s “so old-white-man, I can’t”? For @theobserveruk.bsky.social I wrote about the resurgence of interest in William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow, with thanks to David Nicholls, Richard Ford, @ericawgnr.bsky.social and more:

I'm delighted to announce that we've now sold over 100 sets of the new US edition of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage. And I hope it's a special sign that the 100th set was purchased by none other than the superb writer Carmen Maria Machado. Reading Pilgrimage 2026 starts in 19 days!

Through the mail slot today. Another holiday gift. A Forest on Many Stems: Essays on the Poet’s Novel, edited by Laynie Brown.

Yesterday’s book/logophile haul. Pretty good for loved ones who are always hesitant to give me a book. Excited to fill in my McNally Editions holes. And this game!!! You need this game!!!❤️

Wound up with a great one from the Christmas Eve book game.

2026?

❤️

Finished pre-Santa clearing of the shelves, and took 2 bags of goodies to used bookstore. And came home with just 3! Up by 37 in this silly game. Haven’t read that von Arnim, have a lot of Hardwick editions but not this one, and we have an upcoming Trollope episode for @onebrightbook.bsky.social.

Happy 21st December evening everyone. May the Great Veiled Bear pass over you house tonight and not present you with one of his cursed Christmas cookies.

About to read all of these again, one of them for a third time. Some things just quietly demand more than a single pass.

Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Susan Cooper, who wrote the solstice poem "The Shortest Day," collaborated with illustrator Carson Ellis on a new picture book. From the NPR archives.

Love 3/5 here. And appreciate a list not so of the moment. And also appreciate one choice here that was a real surprise.

Reading Death In Ambush by Susan Gilruth. Because several of you recommended it, and I have to have a couple of Christmas mysteries in the mix each year. 🎅🏻

I am curious to hear your suggestions. Answering would be like dropping a present on my doorstep.

DC residents have been refusing to call that airport anything but National for almost thirty years, we certainly can refuse to call that arts center anything but the Kennedy Center for three

Tickled to see Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century mentioned twice here. I’ll be hosting the NYC launch on February 20. Save the date and stay tuned for details!

Reading for this was a wonderful experience. All under the inspiring leadership of @recycledgiraffe.bsky.social.

The world’s vast and strange, Hara, but no vaster and no stranger than our minds are.

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Nonfiction

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Poetry

2025 Anton Hur Gift Guide or Everything I Published in 2025

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Biography

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Autobiography

Starting Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon.

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Criticism

Announcing the National Book Critics Circle 2025 Longlist for Fiction

I may have bought something for myself while Christmas shopping.

There is one book I always ask for for Christmas. And one year, I will receive a copy of The Untidy Gnome by Stella Gibbons. But right now, my loved ones are asking for other suggestions. What should I ask for? What are some of the best books, new or old, that you read this year?

Out running errands? Hiding away from it all? Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2026 episode makes for good company no matter what you're up to this season. We're joined by @ssacks.bsky.social to chat about the books we most look forward to next year. onebrightbook.com/2025/12/11/e...

Tinkering with an IG account - nonsuchbookstagram. Who should I follow? Is it worth my time? Etc. etc….

Don't miss today's conversation with Jazmina Barrera. Full of cats & revolution, Tarot & the CIA, conspiracy & embroidery, her anti-biographical love letter to another writer, Elena Garro, also becomes a portrait of Jazmina as well Audio: tinhouse.com/podcast/jazm... @twolinespress.com

Just about to record. Love these informal chats, interpreting the three book rule, sweating the duplications. We never plan our conversations but that preference always gains a new life in these end of year episodes.

Hello, Stella. You mean so much to me.

Some of you will understand. Others will not.

Dusting. I like this shelf. A conversation with Binet, Berridge, Bolano, Borges, Bowen, and Bowles.

Knowing what’s best for other people is a dangerous game. —Elizabeth Jane Howard, The Long View

This might be the best one yet. Catch it on a big screen if you can.

Recording our annual "Books We are Excited for Next Year" episode tomorrow, with special guest @ssacks.bsky.social ! Whoever decided we could only choose 3 titles each... well, I want a word with that person....

White Nights by Urszula Honek, translated from Polish by Kate Webster was one of my favorite books of 2024. The Booker attention made it difficult to secure a copy for a moment, but it has found a US publisher now - the first book of 2026 from @twolinespress.com! This chapbook-preview is a delight.

There are two books I need to read this weekend. Instead of doing so, I was looking through and thinking of reading the new Pynchon. Then started paging through this one. My first Pynchon. My father bought it for me when I was in high school. The two pressing books are looking at me though…

All the Dorothies are on sale during @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social's sitewide sale for the next (checks watch) 36 hours! 📚🎁 Go: www.nyrb.com/collections/...

"Ralph Hubbell has succeeded marvelously in rendering the stream of consciousness of inner offbeat voices within the short stories of the great and notoriously difficult twentieth-century Turkish author Oğuz Atay." Nice translation praise from MLA's Scaglione Prize committee.

What if the greatest gift of all is … the promise of future gifts? 🎁 For this year's local gift guide, we’ve rounded up some of the best D.C. experiences you can share with your loved ones — so that well into the new year, they can reap the rewards.

What's the best book *review* you wrote, read, edited, or published this year? I'm rounding them up again for Lit Hub. (Must have a 2025 pub date, no exceptions.)

Time to queue up the Christmas movies. Always start with The Bishop’s Wife.